Sega Saturn (Good media)
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The Sega Saturn was the successor to the Sega Genesis and released in 1994 and competed against the PlayStation and the Nintendo 64. It was succeeded by the Dreamcast. Models made by Hitachi and JVC were also sold in Japan, and are worth more than the regular models, especially the Hitachi models.
Why It Rocks
- A good library of over 596 games. Too bad many of them are Japan-exclusive.
- Decent FMV quality, similar to the PlayStation.
- It produced extremely good 2D animations for its time, allowing for arcade-perfect ports of Neo Geo and Capcom CPS games.
- If you like arcade games, you'll love the Sega Saturn because, as mentioned above, it can produce arcade-perfect ports.
- Some very memorable games like Sonic 3D Blast, Sonic R, Sonic Jam, Nights into Dreams, Bug!, Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA, Virtua Fighter 2, Rayman Primal Rage, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Sakura Wars, its sequel and Saturn Bomberman (which is considered to be one of, if not the best game of the entire franchise).
- Despite not having its own Sonic platforming game, it made up for it with Sonic Jam, a compilation of the Sega Genesis Sonic games, including Sonic 1, 2, and 3 & Knuckles.
- The Action Replay memory card not only allowed for easy cheats and memory, but it also bypasses region locking, enabling Japan-only games to be played on a North American Saturn.
- If you like the Internet, then you'll love NetLink.
- The Segata Sanshiro commercials in Japan. He even managed to star in his own game!
- Strong library of platformers, fighters, shoot 'em ups, light gun games, and JRPGs, most of which were the most popular genres at the time save for JRPGS and shoot 'em ups in the West until the release of the now famous Final Fantasy VII for JRPGs.
- The controller is good for fighting games, as well as shoot'em ups, like Radiant Silvergun.
- It also produced good 3D graphics at the time, It could replicate the graphics seen in Sega Titan Video arcade games
Bad Qualities
Despite its good qualities, the system was a commercial flop. Learn why it flopped here.
Games
Good/Decent Examples
- Sonic Jam
- Sonic 3D Blast
- Rayman
- Saturn Bomberman
- Tomb Raider
- Mega Man 8
- Virtual Fighter and Virtual Fighter 2
- Croc: Legends of the Gobbos
- Earthworm Jim 2
- Pandemonium!
- Astal
- Sega Rally Championship
Bad/Average Examples
- Sonic R
- Super Adventure Rockman
- Virtual Hydlide
- The Incredible Hulk: The Pantheon Saga
- Doraemon: Nobita to Fukkatsu no Hoshi
Reception
Although well-received in Japan, only 9.5 million were sold worldwide, with it failing miserably in the US. and being the least popular console of the fifth generation. This failure would be a contributing factor to Sega abandoning its last console, the Dreamcast because of the financial loss.
Despite failing, the Sega Saturn is considered a good console and had a decent library. Most of the reasons which caused the Sega Saturn to fail were due to Sega's mismanagement and poor business choices, not the console itself. Today, the Sega Saturn is considered a cult classic and is a valuable collector's item. Saturn games tend to be very expensive today, making t a difficult console for collectors.
The Sega Saturn holds the title of being the only Sega console that outsold a Nintendo console of the same generation in Japan.
The console is infamous for its surprise early launch in North America during E3 1995. This was supposedly done to get the console released well ahead of the PlayStation. As the reveal came as a surprise even to most retailers, they did not have them in stock and they were generally pretty upset. Some, such as KB Toys, decided to not stock Sega products as a protest. This disastrous surprise launch is often seen as a significant factor in Sega's eventual withdrawal from the console market.